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First I wanted to say that I’m very new to the world of drone piloting, but I do have some experience in cinematography and film editing. So like many of you, I wasn’t exactly pleased with the footage I was getting from my Typhoon H, but after some testing and tweaking of settings I was able to capture some footage that seems to blend pretty well with my Panasonic GH4/Ninja Assassin combo. The data rate from the CGO3+ camera is still pretty low at around 50 mbps, but again it seems to work well with my other camera, which records video at around 450 mbps.

There’s still plenty for me to learn about this camera/drone (and I do plan to upgrade the lens soon, because as the video shows, the stock lens produces some unwanted blur and distortion at the edges), but for now I’m happy with the results and I’m looking forward to using my Typhoon H in upcoming productions I have planned.

First I wanted to say that I’m very new to the world of drone piloting, but I do have some experience in cinematography and film editing. So like many of you, I wasn’t exactly pleased with the footage I was getting from my Typhoon H, but after some testing and tweaking of settings I was able to capture some footage that seems to blend pretty well with my Panasonic GH4/Ninja Assassin combo. The data rate from the CGO3+ camera is still pretty low at around 50 mbps, but again it seems to work well with my other camera, which records video at around 450 mbps.

There’s still plenty for me to learn about this camera/drone (and I do plan to upgrade the lens soon, because as the video shows, the stock lens produces some unwanted blur and distortion at the edges), but for now I’m happy with the results and I’m looking forward to using my Typhoon H in upcoming productions I have planned.

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Gorgeous stuff, man! I remember you posted some before and after the grade images.. love the grading!

Very nice. You could easily tell which scenes in the video compilation were shot with the Typhoon H, simply because in those scenes the immediate left side was a touch blurry. Good color work on bringing the different cameras in line with each other to all have the same palette.

Good job man. I am an Indy Filmmaker (want-to-be) myself. I am still using the GH2. I wanted to get the GH4 but could not afford that and the H so got the H. I will get a GH4 maybe next year. Love that camera, like the H it is the best bang for the money.

I hope to be doing more projects soon myself but summer is already moving faster than I am. ii

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”-Frank Zappa

The GH4 maxes out at 200Mbps (all-intra) and and with it's IPB compression scheme 100Mbps is actually better. The Ninja Assassin has a max data rate of 220Mbps so I'm not sure where your getting 450 from

The GH4 maxes out at 200Mbps (all-intra) and and with it's IPB compression scheme 100Mbps is actually better. The Ninja Assassin has a max data rate of 220Mbps so I'm not sure where your getting 450 from

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Hey DerStig. I was checking out the specs on my Ninja Assassin as well reading some articles online, and you’re right, some places do say that the max data rate of the Assassin is 220Mbps. Now maybe I was mistaken, or maybe there was an update from Atomos that changed some things, but the footage I’m getting from the SSD card is around 450 mbps. I record in Prores 422 (which I’m sure you know isn’t even the highest setting) but based on what I’m seeing from the video properties>details, it looks like I’m getting around that number for each video [as seen in the attached screen pics]. Again, maybe I am mistaken or maybe there’s something I’m missing between megabits/megabytes, but either way this is the same method I use to check the data rate of the CGO3+ footage, and that footage is consistently around 50 mbps (50000 kbps). So based on that I went ahead and posted that I was getting 450 mbps from the video on my GH4/Ninja Assassin combo.

Very nice. You could easily tell which scenes in the video compilation were shot with the Typhoon H, simply because in those scenes the immediate left side was a touch blurry. Good color work on bringing the different cameras in line with each other to all have the same palette.

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Thanks for your response, I’m glad you liked the video. And yeah you can definitely tell which ones are the Typhoon H clips based on the blurriness on the left side. I’m planning on upgrading the lens soon though, so hopefully that won’t be too much of a problem in future videos.

Very nice. I own a GH4 and know what wonderful 4K video it can capture. I was impressed with how well the CGO3+ matched up with the GH4 footage. Nice job all the way around,

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Thanks Ted! Yeah I think the most challenging part of making this video was color matching the two cameras, but a few months ago I bought a GH4 LUT pack that has 200 different LUTs, which gave me a lot of options for color matching. If you’re interested here’s the link where I bought the LUT pack from: https://sellfy.com/p/ClVG/

I found out that these LUTs work very well for the Typhoon H footage as well (when recording video in the Raw profile), just as long as you decrease the intensity of them in a video editor.

Good job man. I am an Indy Filmmaker (want-to-be) myself. I am still using the GH2. I wanted to get the GH4 but could not afford that and the H so got the H. I will get a GH4 maybe next year. Love that camera, like the H it is the best bang for the money.

I hope to be doing more projects soon myself but summer is already moving faster than I am. ii

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Hey man, I know the struggle is real for us filmmakers out there haha. Last year I was in the same boat, and I actually started off with a little Canon camcorder, and a bunch of free software to edit with. It just takes some time to accumulate all your gear and equipment. But it’s awesome that you already have the H though! I’m sure you’ll be making some great stuff with it, as well as with your GH2.

Lovely stuff, the grading is spot on, and you've got lovely punchy images out of the Typhoon.

As Eric says above - please do share your workflow/settings as we'd all be more than pleased to get such good video.

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I’m glad you liked the video! And for getting a good image out of the CGO3+, it’s important to film in the Raw profile (to allow for good color grading later) and to get the right exposure. I use an ND filter to help reduce the shutter speed so the video looks natural, and of course try to shoot in the lowest ISO to reduce video noise.

As far as my editing workflow goes, I use Adobe Premier Pro CC to edit/color grade all my footage and the key thing is to sequence all the effects in a specific order. In Premier Pro I do this by adding different adjustment layers to the footage (each with their own effect) so I can easily keep track of what’s affecting the final image.

[PLEASE NOTE: the following description is kind of detailed, and semi-specific to Adobe Premier Pro, but I’m sure these same concepts can work with other editors. Also this is just my personal workflow, and is by no means the only way to get great footage out of the CGO3+. There are tons of other ways to get awesome shots out of this camera, both through post processing and straight from the camera, but again this is just my take on it].

[Workflow - Image 1 Below] Okay so once the footage is in the editor and I’ve decided on a specific shot to grade, the first thing I do is raise the blacks and shadow areas of the image, then using the RGB scope as a reference, I color correct the image as best I can (i.e. adjusting temperature & tint until the RGB scope is even/level and the image looks pretty close to “normal”). [NOTE: this step is really easy if you’re able to get the correct WB straight from the camera and then lock it into place]. After I’m happy with the image I’m getting, I add a little saturation to bring out the true colors of the scene.

[Workflow - Image 2 Below] Next, I add an adjustment layer over the footage and begin the “color grading” portion of the edit. All this really involves is taking an RGB curve and lowering the shadow areas followed by raising the highlighted areas (adding contrast). Next I like to add in a “cinematic” type color grade by boosting the blues in the shadow and highlighted areas and then adding orange/reds into the midtones (you have to be careful with this step though, because if you add too much color in one area the overall image starts to look unnatural).

[Workflow - Image 3 Below] The last thing I do (as far as the color grade goes) is add a final adjustment layer where I insert a film LUT (kind of like a filter that adds a “cinematic” look to the footage) and finally sharpen the image. Note that it’s important to add a sharpening effect last, or else the final rendered project will not look natural.

[Workflow - Image 4 Below] As a personal preference I like to add the black bars on top and bottom as well as add a film grain layer, which helps to make the final video look more like a movie; but again, this is just my preference and you should always feel free to add or takeout whatever you’d like in your project. I hope this helps though!